Fierce Energy: Shale gas to shake up global energy market

Allied Market Research (AMR) forecasts that the global shale gas market will reach $104.1 billion by 2020, driven by hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques that have nearly doubled the efficiency of shale gas retrieval from plays, revolutionizing the shale gas market.

Shale gas is a potent alternative source of natural gas and will shake up the global energy market in the coming years, according to AMR analysts. Shale gas has a wide range of applications in power generation, industry, residential and commercial utilities and transportation, with the power generation sector having the most potential benefit.

Though a large number of shale gas reserves are available across the world, exploration and extraction still remains the major challenge in most of the regions due to high extraction cost and large amounts of water used in conventional processes.

Despite the latent commercial potential, regulatory issues in various regions could impede market growth, according to AMR, who quotes the U.K. government as saying that fracking would be impractical in the parts of U.K. due to the scarcity of water supplies.
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